GROUP E 1. Brazil* 2. Sweden* 3. China 4. South Africa GROUP F 1. Germany* 2. Australia* 3. Canada* 4. Zimbabwe GROUP G 1. United States* 2. France* 3. Colombia* 4. New Zealand QUARTERFINALS Brazil def. Colombia United States def. Canada Germany def. France Australia def. Sweden SEMIFINALS United States def. Brazil Australia def. Germany BRONZE Brazil def. Germany GOLD United States def. Australia
After the first day of games, I'd have to rank the teams as follows: 1. United States 2. Germany 3. Brazil 4. France 5. Canada 6. Sweden 7. South Africa 8. Australia 9. China 10. New Zealand 11. Zimbabwe 12. Colombia
hotjam purposely titled it that way to get a glimpse into the future prophecy. By the year 21016, Southeast Turkey will be the best nation in all of women's football. They will make Northwest Turkey look ordinary, & Mid-Central Bulgaria will begin to rise their power in the sport. Alaska Nation will finally get their first victory over New Confederacy United States of New Murica. California Coastal Republic will still have more World Cup titles than anyone by then, with North Pole 2nd all time.
And if we had to give 10 points "total" to share between each of the two nations that played against each other, with more weight of those points being attributed to how they played than the actual scoreline, then it goes like this. *Note* - the # in parenthesis has nothing to do with % of possession. For example, if a team scored a 6, it doesn't mean they had 60% possession. But more possession does factor into their score somewhat still. Scores also factor in how the team did vs. their expectations. The final result counts somewhat, but is less than 50% of the weight. Sweden (4) vs. South Africa (6) (despite Sweden's win, RSA far exceeded expectations than Sweden did) Australia (3) vs. Canada (7) (Australia choked, but still had the better run of play. They were on a power play) China (2) vs. Brazil (8) (Brazil outclassed China, but China showed they can be competitive) Germany (5) vs. Zimbabwe (5) (Germany gets punished for not looking as dominant as they did against Ghana) USA (6) vs. New Zealand (4) (New Zealand still hung in there and had their moments) France (9) vs. Colombia (1) (Colombia scores a point for not punching any of their opponents in the eye)
well it was pretty much status quo as USA, Germany, France, Brazil & Canada racked up impressive wins. (what the heck happened to the cliche; the world is catching up to us???) didn't watch the US game, what's the point when you can read all about it on the 1000+ posts on the EQ? then even more since some of it spills about over to the less than a dozen posts on the other games! and further more, what the heck happened to the Asian qualifiers, Australia & China??? It proving to be the weakest continent in the whole darn tournament! Even New Zealand & South Africa were better. and very very disappointed with the Matildas and their horror of a coach, Staj, after this disaster. When getting beat by an u15 boys squad earlier, maybe he should of gotten his cue from simply 'the greatest soccer movie of all time'
I still think Australia and China could beat New Zealand or either of the Africa teams (yes, even South Africa). But yeah, Asian Federation can't be happy.
Well, you can't look at just one tournament to judge something like "the world is catching up". If you look over the past three or four years.... USA: horrid Algarve in '14 plus just 1pt in 2matches again Brazil that December, 2 draws and 1 loss in home friendlies in '15 (and not even to the likes of Germany, Japan, or Sweden, but to weaker teams), strong '16 so far but lots to go Germany: shocking loss at their own WWC in '11, first loss at Euro in a long time (and a draw) in '13 plus generally weak matches after that, draws to Norway and France and a loss to England in '15 France: why are you even including them in this list? They weren't even part of the conversation 4yrs ago - they're part of the catch-up! (As are England) Brazil: hasn't done anything of note since being runners-up in '07 and '08 - they're 8th-ranked, remember. That's struggling to stay a contender Canada: one of the most schizophrenic teams out there, sometimes playing up to USA's level, while other times not even making the final at the PanAms or in the Cyprus Cup - they're down at 10th-ranked, even worse than Brazil So, in aggregate, yes the world IS catching up. (Don't forget, too, that Japan failed to qualify, and England can't qualify.) But of course you wouldn't see that if you're just looking at one match per team for four or five historically-strong teams, especially when some were playing minnows like Germany and France were.
New Zealand outplayed China at the World Cup last year, they dominated them for most of the match. China got lucky to get a bogus handball call in their favor which led to a penalty kick goal for them. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. China's coach was also an arse when he interfered with play after the 90th minute. He was of course happy with the draw, because China needed the draw to advance, and NZ needed to win.
I mean't the world is catching up phrase on the establishment teams if you look; France is all ready is part of the elite for the last 5 years now. The rest of the countries you mentioned(Brazil, Sweden, Japan) all ready made the 12 that qualified for the WC way back in 1991 We've seen two blowouts(winning by a margin of 4 goals) all ready in the first round of games compared to London where it was only one in the whole tournament, and the two representing the biggest region(Asia) having such disappointing games
so maybe China comes out of Group E as the third place advancing along with Australia in Group F. Hopefully Canada can top Germany on Tuesday or at least tie them. Brazil vs. Australia United States vs. China Canada vs. France Germany vs. Sweden
Yeah, maybe Canada & Germany will try to lose that match to avoid France in the quarterfinals. Or it just ends in a tie & Canada wins the group. Should be interesting. I wonder how many own goals there will be.
actually, I'll change that to China finishing 2nd in Group E & Sweden third. Sweden has played terrible so far. Brazil vs. Australia United States vs. Sweden Canada vs. France Germany vs. China
Credit to @Lechus7 for predicting all 8 quarterfinalists (even if not in the right order) and one of the match-ups (Brazil-Australia)!
Well, you anyway got one out of four, someway. Germany indeed defeated Sweden, although it was the match for the gold and not for the bronze...